City workers return to jobs
Hay River town council ratifies offer to union, staff will start work Aug. 12
Karen K. Ho
Northern News Services
Monday, August 10, 2015
HAY RIVER
The Town of Hay River has ratified a memorandum of settlement with union representatives, effectively ending the contentious strike that stretched on for six months.
"Staff will be returning to work on Wednesday," Mayor Andrew Cassidy told News/North. "I feel it is time for the strike to end. It's been a very, very intense few weeks."
While Cassidy said the wage increases were not necessarily something council agreed or was happy with, both the town and union were eager to end the labour dispute, which left 31 town employees on strike since Feb. 9.
"When the staff come back to work, we're hoping that we're able to put this behind us and that we're going to be able to work together again," said Cassidy.
"Part of the remediation process and the federal remediator's role will be to work with both parties to try and begin repairing relationships."
The final agreement means retroactive wage increases of two per cent for 2014, two per cent for 2015, and 1.75 per cent for the final year, starting Jan. 1, 2016.
The new agreement will expire Dec. 31, 2016 and will replace the agreement which ended Dec. 31, 2013. Originally, union members were demanding a three per cent per year increase while council was originally offering one per cent.
The Union of Northern Workers issued a news release on July 31 after the vote, criticizing the town.
"This employer used every harsh tactic to break the union, even including replacement workers," stated UNW president Todd Parsons in the release. "Our members stood up to the assault, remained strong and united, and won a fair settlement.
"This was their fight and the NWT labour movement is stronger as a result of their courage."
Parsons was unavailable for further comment for this story.
Cassidy expressed relief the process was finally over.
"It's over, we need to move on as a community, as an organization and that's going to be our focus for the next little while," Cassidy said.
- with files from Sarah Ladik
